40–49cm Dolls several projects (Update Sept 2021 help requested!)

Editing this to show his progression. Here is my 50+ (looking to be 53cm) boy doll in the works. He''s based off Tieria from Gundam 00, but I'm also making other heads to fit the body. He's my first attempt at making a BJD, so there's been lots of trial, error, and revisions. I'm using creative paperclay and apoxie sculpt for the hands and feet- eventually.

The first stage with just a layer of clay over saran wrapped tinfoil, and straws for the limbs:

Slightly shaped and head cut:
0005c1z7 by thatbee, on Flickr
I'd initially left the eyewells open but filled them in later to be cut properly

Cut the torso

A bit more carving and revising

His knees are cut here for double joints, but I'm still working on them (and actually his knees had to be fused again after this in order to cut a better joint shape later xp trial-error). The hands and feet are just placers right now.


Starting to work on his face with eyes that are much too big for him.. he needs special order small iris type

After a bit more work but I know he still needs a lot.. just taking a break from it for a while to get a fresh perspective.
12.5 by thatbee, on Flickr

I didn't like the lines of his body so added a lot of clay to his back, reshaped his hip joints and almost completely redid his lower legs.. after->before (the 'before' head is not Tieria's of course ;p)
13 by thatbee, on Flickr


Now I need to go in and add better planes & details and proper hands and feet and finish up the joints, but I'm still taking a short break from him.

 

Thanks cheshirepanda! Well I do a lot of crafty stuff all the time, just not in clay.

haha oops yeah he looks quite girly, I should've included a picture. It's a bit challenging keeping him androgynous when the clay just wants to build up muscles, & I'd like him to be able to look good in uniform and a dress, since that's a big joke/feature from the series

 

Updated the first post with more photos. And I felt the need to take a break from Tieria so I started on a curvy girl doll who might look nice next to him. He should turn out to be around 52 or 53cm, and I'm hoping she'll be around 50+ as well. I'm trying semi-firm floral foam for the base this time, which is SUPER messy when you cut it.. but you don't really notice at the time D: I had to take a show immediately after cutting the body out and still managed to inhale some of it... Otherwise it works ok.

15 by thatbee, on Flickr

 

Thanks everyone for the kind words, I appreciate it! Crit is welcome too

glimmer- paperclay is awesome if you like working in wet clay. I've only really tried sculpey otherwise, and it always made me really frustrated because it requires a certain way of working and soft touch.. but paperclay forces you work more quickly in a smaller time frame and it's much easier to carve/finish if you like that. I wish it could take details as well is all. For smaller projects though I would still suggest sculpey.. or maybe apoxie sculpt (haven't tried it yet), as paperclay is not terribly strong.

Moony- I know how you feel xP I'm finding it really tough to make a very anime face, keeping the details down but still trying to find that balance that makes it look more than a flat sculpt.. I keep wanting to give him larger features and then having to trim them down again. Any future head sculpts will for sure be more realistic, I like that style too. But anyway I KNOW, there's seriously no boys in this size! D: That's the only reason I'm even making him tbh. 'was just going to do the head at first but could find no suitable body.

sand3- paperclay probably isn't strong enough to string as tight as needed without wearing down over time.. so I'm going to try casting eventually.. hopefully won't ruin anything in the process ;x

o/t Is it possible to change one's thread title?

 

I think one company has promised a boy in this size range, so hopefully they become more popular after a while, it's my favorite size. As for hands...probably something in-between, long fingers with edges but not super manly either so they fit with the body.

 

Moony: I hope so! oh lol that poor girl body fell over and her legs broke off xS but it's just as well since I need to reshape her base anyway. No progress on her yet, sadly. & No doubt they will be popular, you'd think companies would take the hint-

sand3: wow really? The paperclay I use is actually pretty light- for instance i was shocked after trying ladoll for the first time how heavy it was in comparison. I think the 40cm hollow-base sculpt of ladoll weighed as much as the 54cm nearly solid paperclay doll (with head!) It is pretty fragile though, my boy keeps chipping his ankles & joints. What brand of paperclay did you use?

Posting to show the other dollies I'm working on in between stints of Tieria.

Here's my kiddos WIP, they're made of firm sculpey over 'polystyrene styrofoam'- the first pic is just thin dough-press layers of clay built up to a general shape, then smoothed with a rake tool & fingers. The comparison is my Luts Bory since the heads were initially intended to fit on that body.

edit: no one mentioned the thumbnails weren't working- here, just posting the full size images this time:
body1 by thatbee, on Flickr
P1010258 by thatbee, on Flickr body5 by thatbee, on Flickr
body6 by thatbee, on Flickr
body7 by thatbee, on Flickr



And a unicorn pair: I've only started on the human form but intend to make the animal as well.. eventually. This one is slim mini size and started out with ladoll/premier mix buuut.. i don't really like it >_> the clay slides around under the surface easily and is pretty fragile until it fully dries imo. Might finish it with paperclay once the stoneclay runs out
uni1 by thatbee, on Flickr
uni2 by thatbee, on Flickr

Cut and added basic joints to the thigh and shoulder.
uni3 by thatbee, on Flickr

I'm trying her head in sculpey--probably-- this looks nothing like her right now, I know :pout haven't had time to work on it.
uni6 by thatbee, on Flickr

Compared to Tieria, as he is now
uni4 by thatbee, on Flickr

Random butt pic I liked :f

 

Thanks Morgan- although the face is likely impermanent as I'm still working on proportions. haha, I've been influenced by a lot of unicorn movies, literature and history in my youth so I have a pretty strong personal idea of what one should look like :p For some reason I feel they should be a lot smaller than a deer or horse.

 

Thank you Glimmer! I accidentally burnt the face so i know it's hard to see, but should look nicer once primed. lol me too actually.. that's why i start so many projects xp

Yep, going to cast them all but I need to save up for a pressure pot first. I can't find any distributors with a decent price in Canada, they're all like $600 and up.

update: I finished the kid's arms, baked, and a did a lot of sanding and shaping to the whole body yesterday. Also started on the hands and feet which are coming along now. No pics to show of that yet though.

 

silk: Thank you! It's been a while.. hope I haven't ruined the body after all this sanding and stuff. ugh, I think I have no choice but to import a tank, even with the shipping and any fees it'll still be a steal compared to what I can find in country.

Tami: well they all stalled for awhile there actually haha. I'm feeling creative again though so hopefully can get at least this little girl done before xmas. I'm so eager to just get her done after all this time and I can't wait to get to the painting and dressing-up phase ^^ Then I remember there's so much work left and I need to pull back and focus on reality first xD;; Making joints is HARD.
Anyway no need to be jealous, truth is I sleep poorly and do 90% of my sculpting work in the middle of the night instead of sleeping. Hence all the badly lit/blurry photos.

patl: Thank you :-) well I've thinned her a lot since these photos, maybe changing the shape, so I'm not sure if it looks any better or worse but oh well it was necessary for the character. I'm still pretty happy with her so far.
You know pvc pipe is an awesome idea for stringing channels, why didn't I think of that? I've been using straws, but pipe would make it so much easier to sculpt over in the initial phases too, that's a part that really annoys me. apoxy sculpt in the joints is also brilliant, I'm using in the sockets of my kid now and it's working great, so thank you for the suggestions! Yeah I'm thinking 10 gallon is probably the size to get for my 50cm boy.

Okay so I picked the kid up again a couple weeks ago and have been slowly figuring out a jointing system, additive and subtractive work (ad infinitum).. which takes a long time with apoxie sculpt. Here's some TERRIBLE photos, I'm so sorry! They're really bad, I think my camera is on the verge of death and it doesn't help taking them all at night. I'd take more but she's unstrung again and waiting for reworking. Better pics next time. She'll have double joints as long as I can somehow get them to work right.. and I do want a torso joint but maybe not until after the first casting.
100630_original by thatbee, on Flickr101010_original by thatbee, on Flickr
101319_original by thatbee, on Flickr
101477_original by thatbee, on Flickr
100585_original by thatbee, on Flickr

 

Thanks so much for all the encouraging comments, guys, you're too kind ;_;. Esp since you can hardly see anything in those pics *L* And there's still so much work to do... I was thinking last night I might need to give her a thigh joint.. but only if it can be really unobtrusive. Ah, i hate to even consider it but the legs are not as poseable as they could be ><.. and it'd be nice to be able to suwarrico and maybe sit with her legs close to her body *ponders* idk yet.

glimmer: Wow thank you so much , I'm glad someone else likes her 'cause I'm so totally smitten even now xp. Yeah I'd be open to selling her if anyone's interested, but at the same time I won't count my chickens before they're hatched. Gotta see how she turns out before I even consider that. And also I'm not sure about the resin casting.. years ago I used it for a while to cast tags and quickly developed a high sensitivity to the stuff, getting chemical burns just from the fumes. I probably wasn't protected well enough so hopefully with better preparation it'll be doable. But if worse comes to worst she'll have to be sent off for casting (dontwannatho*clings*).

Nyo: Thank you I'm fond of the legs as well xP Wanted to get the curve just right lol. Except I'm not making a centaur, perhaps you mean my unicorn? I can't wait to work on it, but shouldn't start any new projects until /something/ gets finished.

 

Not really an update since there's nothing new to see, but here's a couple more pics, hopefully a little better quality. I just managed to take them days ago before my batteries died, heh.
P1010447 copy by thatbee, on Flickr


So you can how how I've basically taken a hacksaw to the parts xP But they'll be cleaned up once everything works smoothly. I've made some progress with the joint function so feel pretty happy about that anyway. Still fiddling with the elbows though.

One thing I kind of love about sculpey is you can cut a piece cleanly in half and just superglue it back together and it'll be stronger at the cut than before (see upper arm). Actually the ears are glued on too. But they're going, I don't like them xp And new hands.

Oh and this is completely random, but in case anyone's looking into dremel tools, the cordless Dremel Stylus may be tempting, and it works good while it .. works.. but I only used mine a handful of times before it refused to recharge and judging by online reviews this seems to be a common problem. So.. pretty expensive for something you'll only get a few uses out of. Now I need to shop for a smaller corded one again

 

@glimmer: TY If it comes to it I definitely wouldn't send an original anywhere. The post office is not to be trusted in such a case :p I'd mold a master in resin despite difficulties, finish that up and go from there. Hopefully resin won't be a problem though.

kwmelvin.. I do have a more powerful rotary tool with flex shaft, I just don't like to use it, even with the attachment it's less comfortable than a smaller tool. And using soft materials like I am you don't really need anything big. Thanks for the input though

 

She'll be case for certain, one way or another. My mom has demanded copies so Hmm, actually we do have one plastics store in town somewhere, I'll look into it. Doubt they'd be set up for doll casting but who knows. I'm planning on just covering up head to toe in a work suit and mask so hopefully I'll be able to cast, myself. Having complete control over the process is ideal.

Thanks so much Aminoff I'm trying to speed things along so she can be cast sooner than later.. can't wait until she's ready too

 

Thanks you two for the comments

Something new: this is a companion for the unicorn girl started the other day. And well, there might not be more significant progress for a little while due to other obligations, so I'll just post this here for now. The torso turned out a little bulkier than planned (it was insistent) and I'm a little unhappy about that but oh well, we'll work with it.

ya idk what im even doin starting this 9_9

beginnings.. thin layered clay over styrofoam.


mostly raked and smoothed
P1010456 copy by thatbee, on Flickr


He looks kind of enormous next to the girl, but maybe it'll look better with the limbs and stuff
P1010464 copy by thatbee, on Flickr

still working the clay
P1010524 copy by thatbee, on Flickr


baked here. I might have smoothed out too many details.. not sure if it's just hidden by the burnt part x\ ah~ I'm still messing with things and trying to figure him out, sanding should help.



P1010551 copy by thatbee, on Flickr





that's all for now ^^

 

omg you guys.. are making me nervous to post here. aneemal, thank you so much for such motivating words.. I sort of feel like they're too generous, but I think of them when I get down about my sculpting and feel like it's all worthless, so I appreciate it so much, thank you, and to everyone who seconded, lol. But really guys, I can totally assure you, for the most part the sculpts come together kicking and fighting every step of the way, and then they decide to crumble into dust at times, and it's all very frustrating and a struggle, and I just wish it was an easy and fulfilling thing without stress. :dead

Especially now this boy.. I'm not really happy with how his body shape is working out and and just blah~ But still I'm trying to get him done as fast as possible and not stress too much over the little things like usual. It's a different strategy and seems to be working okay..moving along from part to part and not giving enough time on any area to obsess too much.

Glad to hear the progress photos are interesting and fun to look at though! thats what they're here for

And thanks everyone for the comments! You've made me appreciate his face more, I wasn't in love with it before but thought it was close enough to the reference picture to 'do'. I guess that's the part about this boy I'm happiest with now, can't wait to see him cast and painted to see how he 'really' looks. He actually reminds me slightly of some actor.. or someone.. but I can't figure out who it is.

du-hast: 'cause I'm not at all. I could ask you the same question :\ And noo why are you dead?! I keep hoping to see update on your boys ;^;. every day...

Jphobia: I want one of yours too!! But you're probably closer to accomplishing that, so I'll just have to get my butt in gear and work harder & get something done soon too..

Annarchy Well they don't, so don't worry xP. I feel the same way about other sculpts on here.. your fairies enthusiastically included.. they just stunned me when you posted all those photos a while back. Anyway I think it's an effect of hoarding updates up until there's something really good to show maybe. Makes it seem like the work was easier than it was. If that makes any sense.

fairysquisher Thanks so much ^^ Serene huh? was trying to figure out what sort of look he he had, that's interesting. At some point I should try and sculpt a stronger expression but I do love my dolly faces too. Hmm I wonder how his size compares to her now after sanding.. he's still a lot larger I think so it's good he doesn't look out of place.

Aha, thank you cheshirepanda, and everyone else I didn't address directly, your comments are all loved

Here's some teasy progress photos now. sooo I guess here's where I left off..
this is the body minus one leg and arms sculpted and not sanded.


Then some redundant photos of the head, this time with some eyes:





Sculpted, sanded (and oiled up haha), but the limbs are not cut yet



Annnd, I didn't take a lot of pics of the inbetween stuff here, it's all very ugly. But here the legs are cut and almost working. joints continue to be my bane. wish someone else would do all this hard stuff :[ sort of...
That odd colour patch on his thigh... his leg rolled away from the ceramic plate while I was baking the knee joint on and burn to a crisp and bubbled up all black and horrible and I screamed to find it thus. But it was easily chopped off while warm and fixed up. It'll still need to be smoothed out some during priming.


Here his torso joint is basically done and the legs are almost working perfectly and the elbows too.. but the hip and shoulder joints still need work... and I'm thinking of making a new torso ^^; this one is.... not quite according to plan. But idk. Was considering making a lower torso joint too. I usually hate the look of them but it would be nice for posing, especially since his torso is so thick.


Probably can't put off making the hands and feet any longer : (

 

Thanks YEMiliee for the nice words
Glimmer & Miss_Pygmalion, I looked up Migidoll and totally agree, he has a similar expression, especially to Miho... anyway I think that's quite the compliment, so thank you both. AHH their dolls are so pretty.. I kinda want a Ryeong now >_<
dajzhavu Haha, I don't mind! Ears were a struggle to learn, they so fussy, but I'm getting better at them (except I still have a tendency to make them too big ahhh). Oh my, I certainly haven't mastered double joints at all, in fact they are the very bane of my existence on this earth as we know it. Joints at all, actually *sigh*. They look okay but don't function like they should or don't hold their poses well enough.. one day... well I'm finally learning a bit after much trial and error.
So yeah, I'd love to see such a video too, please let me know if you find one! xp
As for sitting indian style, I guess the kid can do it in that photo because her legs are strung toward the crotch rather than through a slot up top. I've since given her upper thigh joints too so it's even easier to sit like that, as well as suwarrico.

Here's a couple more pics.. I've been working furiously, reworking practically everything, banging my head against the wall, angsting etc.. Got some more progress, I think.

Here's a shot after I finally got his hands and feet done (it took a day of sculpting for each hand and foot -________________- Actually I at first sculpted the hands too big so had to redo them just sfsgfdgg. But it was good practice.)
standwhandsfeet by thatbee, on Flickr


hands/feet


His elbow joints didn't work right so I redid them last night and tonight, and THEY KINDA WORK. It feels like a dream~ His other arm was still baking here, so it's absent. Oh and I'm re-working on the torso now, it's very incomplete, I hesitate to post it at all.

 

aneemal: I don't (usually) like really beefy guy dolls, and tend to make mine more feminine, maybe that's why Thanks for such a nice compliment! haha it's it's a good thing he's not, his joints would REALLY not work in marble, I'd be so frustrated xp Ah TY, I think actually the hands were still a little too large but my mom said 'No men have larger hands anyway', so okay I'll go with that haha.
Yeah you're right. idk something about joints is just not clicking with me .I've had a few 'aha' moments now and then, maybe I'm just not thinking about them the right way, and focusing/worrying too much about the aesthetics. Gotta try and switch over to an engineering perspective.
& it's okay, sorry I get anxious when i feel like a lot of people are being 'too' complimentary, or if I'm not satisfied with my work as much, but I do appreciate your thoughtful words, never thought they were insincere at all

Thank you Miss_Pygmalion, clarinetplayer, & Jphobia, glad you all like the hands & feet, so it was worth it! I guess with more practice they would look cleaner and take less time, but these are the first where I've studies the bones and anatomy & such while sculpting.

Jphobia, he's about 47cm right now, (I was aiming for 44-45cm >_<). so about slim, mini sized.. hopefully And those creases are mine, now you know what my hands look like lol. AH a Rat & Unicorn romance!! I'm sure she'd be beautifuuulll in your skilled hands, I want to seee if you do :*O
I'm still working on the female version of this unicorn, but tbh she's not his girlfriend in my mind, maybe a sibling, but more like the female incarnation of the same character.

discobiscuit: I guess it's not in reality, I'm just impatient then xD He's starting to look more like my vision, slowly but surely, so I'm glad. Thanks so much!